The word is said to have been jokingly created by a student at Eton College in Eton, England. It uses three Latin words together that each mean "worthless" or "nothing": flocci, from floccus meaning "a small piece of wool" + nauci, from naucum meaning "a trifle" + nihili, from nihilum meaning "nothing" + pili, from pilus meaning "a hair" or "something not important" + -fication.